Real-life nutrition tips for the new year

Real-life nutrition tips for the new year

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SALT LAKE CITY — If the old saying “you are what you eat” is true, then today I am a giant lump of sugary goo.

My kids are sweet and salty nuts (which is more accurate than I meant it to be). My husband is living in a chocolate marshmallow world this winter.

Yes, the holidays hit our home hard this year, and that’s OK. I can’t imagine my life without a few sweet treats. Despite my job title of fitness instructor, my diet really isn’t a diet at all. My neighbors apologetically left cookies and candies on our doorstep only to be surprised when my ravenous self ate half of their offerings before they made it down my driveway.

Two years ago my grandma traveled from Oregon to see me run the Boston Marathon. After the race, we stopped by Dunkin Donuts to get my traditional celebratory finish line chocolate cake donut. Okay, I bought two. The shock on her face when she realized I’d finished both donuts before the elevator reached our floor was as priceless as any American Express commercial.

My point is, I’m generally healthy, but I don’t deprive myself. I’m no nutritionist, but a lot of gym members and running friends ask me what and how I eat. How can I indulge but still stay healthy and fit? Here are a few real-life eating tips that have worked for me.

Don’t diet

“Diet” really is a four-letter word. Rather than banning bad foods, I try to incorporate more healthy foods in my life. Diets are temporary, and I’m in this life for the long haul. I don’t do cleanses. I don’t eliminate any particular food group.

For some, these temporary fixes kickstart a healthier lifestyle. For me, they awaken the junk food beast inside. Tell me I can’t have something and suddenly I become as obsessed about chocolate cake as my husband is about Kentucky basketball. My stomach can only hold so much, and I often find I’m just too full to eat ice cream after a big bowl of strawberries. If I’m not too full, then my portion size is significantly reduced anyway.

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Create a food routine

For some, variety is the spice of life. But like any Vegas buffet, when faced with many choices, I eat too much. I’m a creature of habit. Spontaneity is fine as long as I’m given a little warning. I eat the same general meals every day. Dinner is the most flexible, but I still have core meals on regular rotation.

I’m not tempted by a big bowl of sugar cereal in the morning, because I already have oatmeal on the brain. I don’t dig into a bag of chips after the kids come home from school, because I’m too busy noshing on air-popped popcorn.

Could this get boring? Of course. But overall it’s a relief. My days are busy and I don’t want to spend time deciding what to eat, much less weighing the nutritional value of each meal over and over again.

Reduce temptation in the house

I love Oreos. That’s why I don’t buy them. Baked Cheetos are my kryptonite. That’s why they haven’t seen the inside of my grocery cart in years.

When my husband and I were dating and he opened my fridge for the first time, he thought I was housing aliens. A green glow emanated onto the laminate floor — it was the glow of Mountain Dew. I drank it by the truck load. I have no willpower. I’m weak and I admit it. But if the food isn’t there, I can’t eat it and most of the time I’m too lazy to drive to the store to get it.

Focus on how you feel

Bad food makes me feel good in the moment, but the rest of the day I feel like the garbage I just ate. On the other hand, exercise is hard in the moment, but the rest of the day I feel energized, clear-headed and confident. A brief encounter with junk food makes my stomach hurt hours later. I’m lethargic and grumpy and feel as useful as a snowblower in summer.

Plan ahead

If we’re going out to dinner with my husband’s co-workers, I look up the restaurant’s menu online. Often they’ll have nutritional information posted as well. Once a month I sit down and plan out our dinner menu, trying to take into account our schedule. Inevitably there are more frantic days, so I try to keep a few easy healthy meals in our freezer that I can throw together. We have a board in our kitchen that lists each evening’s meals for a week. That eliminates the nightly whine-fest from my kids and also helps me prep ahead of time. Too many dinners have been ruined because I forgot to thaw the chicken, but not so much anymore. Planning ahead has also greatly reduced our surrendering to take-out when we can’t decide on dinner.

Don’t deprive yourself

My eating is much better and my “bad” food choices aren’t as heinous as they once were, but if I want something, I eat it. Knowing that there is nothing I can’t have makes it easier to make good choices in the moment.

When I do indulge, I try to watch the portion size. Knowing I have very little self-control, it’s much smarter for me to buy individually wrapped ice cream sandwiches than to scoop myself a bowl of ice cream from the oversized tanks that my kids wish we’d buy. One scoop for the bowl, one scoop for my mouth. Ten minutes later I’ve eaten my weight in Rocky Road.

I’ve found over time that my cravings are for more healthier food as my eating habits have improved. I do love Rocky Road, but sometimes an apple really does satisfy my sweet tooth.

Track your food intake

Some people hate this and feel it promotes obsessive behavior about food, but for me, mindless eating got me in trouble more than any other food habit. It’s amazing how a handful of chocolate chips and a couple bites of your kids’ chicken nuggets can add up to meal-size proportions. Keeping track will not always influence my choices, but at least helps me be more aware of what I eat. There are free apps that will not only track calories, but carbohydrate, sodium and fat intake as well as the vitamins and minerals from the foods I eat. I can even calculate calories of my favorite recipes. Ignorance is definitely not bliss when it comes to eating.

Here’s to a healthy and happy year!


Kim Cowart is a wife, mother, 24-Hour Fitness instructor, writer and marathoner. She can be reached at kccowart@msn.com.

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